Often described as ‘Rocket Propelled Grenade’ in the west, ‘RPG’ actually stands for ‘Hand-held antitank grenade launcher’ in Russian.

Introduced to Soviet service in 1961, it has, like the Kalashnikov rifle, been widely copied around the world and will remain in common use for the foreseeable future due its simple and robust design, this example being made in Iraq. After all, the weapon itself is only a launch tube with a single-action pistol firing mechanism and provision for an optical sight.

Though its original high explosive warhead is no longer capable of destroying modern main battle tanks, it can still disable them and is quite effective against other more common targets, and though unguided can even represent a threat to aircraft. More advanced warheads have also been developed to counter modern forms of armour.